How did 'People Far Away' become co-creators of Chinese culture?

The spectrum of ethnically cultural blending

In Chinese history, the mechanism of reciprocal cultural blending promoted extensive and frequent ethnic interactions and exchanges. Fei Xiaotong, a Chinese anthropologist, once said it was difficult to explain many Chinese phenomena applying the idea of "one place, one people". Therefore, he proposed an academic concept of "ethnic corridor" to break the theoretical dilemma. Observing the anthropogeographyalong the corridors, we can see a spectrum of ethnic cultural blending in history.

For instance, in the thousands of years, the Nomadic Di-Qiang group moved south from the northwest; the rice-planting Baiyue group headed west from the southeast; the corn-planting Three-Miao groups also migrated west from the mid-south and the Yungui in the southwest. Converging at the Tibetan-Yi Corridor in the east of Tibetan Plateau, several cultures collided and interacted along the southwestern mountains and valleys. As far as costumes are concerned, the Di-Qiang group was originally good at producing leather and felt; the Baiyue group at cotton, linen and silk; and the three Miao groups at embroidery. After thousands of years, the nomadic Di-Qiang group grew into experts on embroidery, and Qiang embroidery is now a national intangible cultural heritage in China.

The Miao group in colorful skirts learned to use blankets against the chilly wind on the plateau. A branch of Miao, Big-flower Miao’s wool blankets are woven with the migration route map of their ancestors. As the descendants of Baiyue, the Dong group wear silver crowns and pleated skirts highly similar to the dress of the Miao group. The ethnic groups influence each other by means of the interaction and exchange. Hani group are descendants of nomads who migrated from the northwest plateau. After interacting with Baiyue farmers, they turned themselves into the most patient farmers for more than 1,000 years and carved the whole hillside of AilaoMountain into "Hani Terraces". This unparalleled agricultural wonder has become a world cultural heritage that makes all Chinese people proud.

The bidirectional narration of the two stories interweaves the unique historically Chinese logic: open sharing, mutual interaction, harmonious co-existence and lasting strength.